1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an air conditioner and a method for controlling the air conditioner, which provide a comfortable environment to a person""s perception that changes according to each of life scenes.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The thermal perception of a human body is determined by temperatures, humidity, radiation, and airflow speeds, which are referred to as the four factors of thermal environment, and the human factors, that is, the amount of clothes worn by and the activity level of a person. In general, the air conditioner controls the temperature and humidity of the four factors of thermal environment and is intended to adjust them to a constant value. However, as mentioned above, the thermal perception of a person is susceptible to the human factors such as the amount of clothes worn by and the activity level of the person. That is, the person lives a variable life, and accordingly the amount of clothes and the activity level of the person vary in the variable life, thereby conceivably causing the perception level of the person to change. The activity level is varied by the walk, posture, motion, work or the like of the person, thereby causing the environment to change, in which the person feels comfortable, depending on the behavior and the way of living of the person. Therefore, it is necessary to create a dwelling environment suitable for the variable life in order to control the environment at all times to be comfortable.
The varying life can be classified according to the scenes of the life, for example, the scenes of sleeping, going-out, staying at home or the like. In the scene of sleeping, the activity level becomes significantly low and the bedding is added to the clothes worn by the person. Thus, this makes the human factors totally different from that at the awakening time such as the scene of staying at home, so as to obviously bring about a different comfortable environment. Conventionally, to create a comfortable dwelling environment at the time according to the person""s thermal perception level that varies depending on the life scene, a user has set or changed on an as-needed basis the temperature set point or the state of operation of an air conditioner to use it.
On the other hand, as an example of operation control in each of the life scenes, an air conditioner that provides comfort to a life scene of sleeping and energy saving is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No.Sho 62-33239. FIG. 14 is a timing chart of voltages corresponding to shifted temperatures in a conventional air conditioner. As illustrated, the temperature set point is shifted when the user turns on the xe2x80x9csleepxe2x80x9d mode switch at bedtime, and control is performed to make a shifting amount and a time interval (elapse time) of the temperature set point larger stepwise.
The temperature set point is shifted stepwise by a small amount at first and then by a larger amount. In this manner, a greater amount of temperature shift can be finally obtained than an amount of temperature shift obtained by a temperature stepwise shifting by the same amount, provided that the number of shifting is the same, so that energy saving is improved. In addition, a time interval of temperature shift is changed according to the shifting amount of the temperature, thereby exerting no adverse effect on the comfort level of a person in bed.
Furthermore, for example, an air conditioner that is designed with particular attention to a difference in the activity level and the amount of clothes between the periods of awakening and sleeping in the sleeping scene is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No.Hei 4-126941. FIG. 15 is a timing chart of shifted temperatures of the conventional air conditioner. As illustrated, with this air conditioner, the user is allowed to enter (set) the desired temperature set points for bedtime and rising time independently of the temperature set point for the time of awakening. The temperature set point is shifted automatically toward the rising time so that the temperature set point for the rising time is reached at the rising time. To provide a comfortable temperature set point during sleeping, comfort can be provided by temperature set points independent of that for awakening time which are the temperature set points for the bedtime and rising time arbitrarily set. That is, the temperature set points for the bedtime and rising time can be set by the user to his or her preferences, thereby implementing a dwelling environment (sleeping environment) which is closer to the one desired by the user.
However, the air conditioner configured as described above has required an inconvenient operation for a user to change on an as-needed basis the temperature set point or the like of the air conditioner, in order to create a comfortable dwelling environment according to different occasions. Moreover, in some cases, eliminating the inconvenient operation of changing the temperature set point resulted in failing to realize a comfort dwelling environment, and in operating the air conditioner without taking the energy saving into consideration.
On the other hand, even in the air conditioner of the prior art example provided with operation control for each life scene, a temperature set point could not be set arbitrarily for the life scene and only one pattern for changing the temperature set point was provided, not necessarily realizing energy saving.
The present invention was developed to solve the aforementioned problems. It is an object of the present invention to provide an air conditioner which can provide a comfortable environment desired by the user for 24 hours with a simplified operation and improve the level of energy saving without impairing a comfortable dwelling environment. Accordingly, the present invention provides the following effects.
The air conditioner according to the present invention eliminates the user""s inconvenience of changing on an as-needed basis the temperature set point or the like of the air conditioner and stores temperature set points for each predetermined time interval. This makes it possible to realize a comfortable dwelling environment for 24 hours desired by the user differently corresponding to a life scene according to an occasion.
Furthermore, the air conditioner according to the present invention stores a temperature set point for each operation pattern of a cooling and heating cycle of operation. This makes it possible to realize a comfortable dwelling environment according to each operation pattern even in an air conditioner having a plurality of operation patterns.
Furthermore, the air conditioner according to the present invention can carry out control in consideration of air conditioning load as far as possible without worsening a comfortable dwelling environment for 24 hours desired by the user corresponding to a life scene according to an occasion, so that improved energy saving can be expected.
Furthermore, the air conditioner according to the present invention has a plurality of temperature change patterns representative of temperature shifts of room temperature. This provides more degrees of freedom for control than one with only one temperature change pattern. This makes it possible to realize a comfortable dwelling environment desired by the user differently corresponding to a life scene according to an occasion, so that improved energy saving can be expected.
Furthermore, the air conditioner according to the present invention selects a temperature change pattern among a plurality of temperature change patterns, that provides less air conditioning load, so that improved energy saving can be expected.
Furthermore, the air conditioner according to the present invention organizes fundamental ones of the life scenes of a person in a framework. This makes it possible to carry out air conditioning suitable for each life scene and realize a comfortable dwelling environment desired by the user corresponding to each fundamental life scene.
Furthermore, the air conditioner according to the present invention includes at least a sleep scene as a fundamental life scene and provides reduced noise from the indoor air blower during the sleep scene, so that a comfortable sleeping environment without noise can be provided.
Furthermore, the method for controlling an air conditioner according to the present invention has the step of storing an operation condition for each predetermined time interval, so that a comfortable dwelling environment desired by the user differently corresponding to a life scene according to an occasion can be realized.
Furthermore, the method for controlling an air conditioner according to the present invention eliminates the user""s inconvenience of changing on an as-needed basis the temperature set point or the like of the air conditioner and stores temperature set points for each predetermined time interval. This makes it possible to realize a comfortable dwelling environment for 24 hours desired by the user differently corresponding to a life scene according to an occasion.
Furthermore, the method for controlling an air conditioner according to the present invention has a plurality of temperature change patterns representative of temperature shifts of room temperature. This provides more degrees of freedom for control than one with only one temperature change pattern. This makes it possible to realize a comfortable dwelling environment desired by the user differently corresponding to a life scene according to an occasion, so that improved energy saving can be expected.